PODCAST · business
The StartWell Podcast
by StartWell
Conversations with our members, partners and associates - recorded on campus in downtown Toronto.
Episodes
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Connor Renton Thinks Your Rec League Should Feel Like the NBA
Most adult rec leagues run on the same model: charge as little as possible, pay as little as possible, and hope the gym is unlocked. Connor Renton looked at that model and decided the cheapness was the problem. Renton, 29, is the founder and CEO of Brodie, the Toronto-born adult basketball league...
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His Ghost Army Posts for You, at Scale — Legally (Matt Espinoza)
Matt Espinoza sold his first software company the same week he graduated university — then did it again, faster. Now, at 23, he runs Clover Labs (AI), a Toronto startup that grew to 65 employees in a year by building AI "growth agents" that mass-produce content, run outbound, and manage ad spend...
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$600M Earned, Zero Commission: Why Stan Gives Away the Money
Stan has helped over 100,000 creators and entrepreneurs earn more than $600M online — and takes $0 in commission on any of it. Vitalii Dodonov, co-founder and CTO of Stan, explains why the team made that call on purpose, and what it's built on top of it since. Vitalii traces his path from…
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How Shopify's Head of Engineering Thinks About His Job And AI - Farhan Thawer
Shopify's VP & Head of Engineering Farhan Thawar joins StartWell to unpack Sidekick, why Shopify builds its own tools instead of buying them, and how a 7,000-person hackathon and 1,000 annual interns keep the culture moving.
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Saud Aziz wants to fix how Canadian businesses manage money — and he's not waiting for the banks to do it.
Venn co-founder Saud Aziz on building Canada's business banking alternative — from a cold email to employee #5, Revolut's Canadian expansion, and raising a $21.5M Series A from a team of 10.
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The Business Model Behind Affirm - An Honest Credit Card Alternative (Wayne Pommen, Affirm CRO)
Affirm CRO Wayne Pommen on building and selling PayBright, why credit cards are broken, and what Canada's fintech scene needs to grow up.
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This Founder Left Washington To Defend Canada's Arctic - Eliot Pence
Former Anduril executive Eliot Pence left Washington DC to build the defense company Canada never had. Here's why he came back — and what's at stake.
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Som Seif on Why Canadians Are Afraid of the Wrong Thing
Som Seif has spent two decades disrupting Canadian financial services — first with Claymore, one of Canada's earliest ETF companies, then as co-founder of Wealthsimple, and now as CEO of Purpose Unlimited, a platform spanning asset management, wealth management, SMB lending, and retirement...
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Buy a Business, Don't Start One? Steven Wang on Canada's Entrepreneurship Revolution
Steven Wang, Rhodes Scholar, Harvard-trained lawyer, and CEO of Venture for Canada, joins Qasim Virjee at StartWell to talk about what it really takes to future-proof the next generation of Canadian workers, why the country has an experience gap (not a talent gap), and why buying a small business...
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Teaching Students to Embrace Failure | AJ Tibando
Canada has no shortage of talent - but according to AJ Tibando, we have a mindset problem. As CEO of Shift Canada, AJ is leading a national effort to reshape how young people think about risk, failure, and entrepreneurship. Starting with students as early as grade five, Shift’s programs challenge...
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How AI is Rewriting Venture Capital - Karim Gillani (Luge Capital)
Karim Gillani has had a front-row seat to some of the most important shifts in technology and finance over the past two decades. From early days in mobile payments to leading M&A at companies like Xoom and PayPal, and now as a co-founding General Partner at Luge Capital, his perspective on…
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Stuck at $200M Revenue? This Might Be Your Best Move (Naseem Saloojee on SPACs)
Naseem Saloojee, co-founder of Suma Capital, breaks down one of the most misunderstood opportunities in today’s market: SPACs - and why they may be making a comeback. In this conversation, we explore how founders, investors, and operators can navigate a market where traditional venture funding…
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The Truth About E-Commerce Rollups - Ghassan Halazon of EMERGE
*Recorded at StartWell - Toronto's campus for corporate meetings & events: https://startwell.co Ghassan Halazon, Founder and CEO of EMERGE Commerce, joins the StartWell Podcast for a candid conversation about what it really takes to build and operate e-commerce businesses at scale. From his early...
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How Founders Should Think About Partnerships - Chris Lavoie
*Recorded at StartWell, Toronto's campus for corporate meetings & events: https://startwell.co/ Partnerships are no longer a side function - they’re becoming one of the most important growth channels in modern B2B. In this episode of the StartWell Podcast, Chris Lavoie - founder of Partnership...
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How to Make Any Offsite More Persuasive - Behavioral Science with Ben Wise & Darren Chiu
*Recorded at StartWell - Toronto's campus for corporate meetings & events: https://startwell.co Ben Wise and Darren Chiu are the founders of Captivate - a newsletter and training platform that turns behavioral science into practical tools for persuasion, communication, and change. In this...
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The Founder OS - Talent, Culture, and Why Startups Plateau - Joseph Fung
*Recorded at StartWell - Toronto's campus for corporate meetings & events: https://startwell.co Joseph Fung is a 5x founder and CEO with a simple obsession - building places where great people can do their best work. In this conversation, Joseph walks through the real arc of entrepreneurship:...
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How Sherpa Built the Infrastructure Behind Global Travel - Max Tremaine
*Recorded at StartWell - Toronto's campus for corporate meetings & events: https://startwell.co Max Tremaine is the cofounder and CEO of Sherpa - the travel infrastructure company helping millions of travellers every week understand what they need to cross borders, apply for eVisas as an add-on...
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Public Policy for Founders - A Conversation with Morva Rohani
In this StartWell Podcast episode, lobbyist Morva Rohani breaks down public policy for founders, the reality of regulation in Canada, and why understanding government priorities can become a competitive advantage.
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Why Big Law Is Broken - And How Goodlawyer Is Fixing It
Goodlawyer CEO Brett Colvin explains why Big Law incentives are broken, how fractional general counsel works, and how scaling companies can modernize legal support with embedded in-house talent.
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Why Founders Hate Sales (and Why It’s Usually Not a Sales Problem) - Collin Stewart
Collin Stewart has spent the last decade-plus helping founders find customers - but in this conversation, he’s not selling tactics. He’s selling sequence. We talk about Collin’s book, The Terrifying Art of Finding Customers, and why he wrote it in the first place: he didn’t want to regurgitate...
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Why Leaders Need a “Third Space” - Christine Song on Building 5 to 9 Society
What if “networking” is broken - and leadership is lonelier than we admit? In this episode, Christine Song (Founder, 529 Society) breaks down why big conference rooms and name tags don’t create real relationships - and why she believes leaders need a third space outside of work to talk honestly,...
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Smart Girl, Dumb Questions: Why Curiosity is Important for Podcasters - with Nayeema Raza
Nayeema Raza believes that success comes from embracing authentic curiosity rather than chasing algorithms. For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, Nayeema joined us in studio in Toronto to discuss her lens on hosting her own show (Smart Girl, Dumb Questions), and what the modern media…
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PR vs Marketing: How Founders Really Build Trust in 2026 – with Katie Zeppieri
In this episode, Qasim sits down with Katie Zeppieri, founder and CEO of The Mic Drop Agency, a PR and marketing firm working with venture-backed tech startups, reality TV talent and authors across North America. From her new base in Austin, Katie helps founders and executive teams tell their...
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Understanding Burnout: A Deep Dive with Duncan So
This episode of the StartWell Podcast delves into the complexities of burnout, distinguishing it from acute stress and exploring the impact of chronic stress on mental health. Duncan So shares personal experiences and insights on recognizing the signs of burnout, the role of workplace culture…
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Building Float: Ruslan Nikolaev on Disrupting Canadian Fintech
In this episode of the StartWell Podcast, Ruslan Nikolaev, co-founder of Float, shares the journey of building a fintech startup aimed at revolutionizing financial management for Canadian businesses. We discuss challenges he faced in the financial landscape, the importance of data in making...
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Peter Hwang's Entrepreneurial Journey: From College Football to Business
For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, Peter Hwang shares his entrepreneurial journey - starting from his first business right out of university to navigating various challenges in the startup landscape. We discuss the impact of economic downturns, particularly the 2008 financial crisis, and...
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Joshua Zerkel On Why 'Community' Is Essential For GTM Success
This episode of the StartWell Podcast explores the multifaceted nature of community building in business as we sit down virtually with Joshua Zerkel; a community-led growth and engagement leader who has done amazing work for technology companies operating at massive scale; including Asana and...
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Scott Knox From The ICA On Why Brands Need More Canada
This conversation is a deep dive into the Canadian creative industry's untapped potential and challenges. Scott Knox, President and CEO of the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA), discusses their "Brands Need More Canada" initiative. Canadian agencies excel at delivering integrated campaigns…
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Perspective on Toronto's Fintech Ecosystem with Nik Milanović
In this episode of the StartWell Podcast, we sat down with Nik Milanović, founder of This Week in Fintech (the world's largest fintech community with 160,000 subscribers.) Nik discusses the company's first Toronto meetup event and shares insights about fintech ecosystems in Canada, highlighting…
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Subversive Marketing's New Handbook, "Just Evil Enough" - Alistair Croll
You're in for a fascinating conversation about rethinking startup strategy with Alistair Croll. For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, we dive deep into his new book "Just Evil Enough," which took seven years to write and challenges everything you thought you knew about building successful...
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Carbon6: How This Amazon Seller Software Company Achieved 7x Growth | Success Story
For this second conversation with Carbon6 - 2 years after we last had them in studio, you'll get an insider's look at one of the most dynamic success stories in the Amazon seller software space. Carbon6's journey from ambitious startup to industry powerhouse unfolds through candid discussions…
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James McKay on Why RevOps is ESSENTIAL for Growing Businesses
For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, James McKay shares his path from film studies to RevOps consulting in this straight-talking conversation about the Canadian startup ecosystem. If you work in tech or are curious about how Canadian business really operates, there's plenty here to dig…
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Lessons from the Co-founder of A $1 Billion Canadian Adtech Company
For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, we discover how StackAdapt grew from a 3-person startup to a global force in programmatic advertising, now operating in 16 countries. CEO Vitaly Pecherskiy shares insights on bootstrap funding, sustainable growth, and building a customer-centric global...
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Farah Mohamed Exposes the Unemployment Crisis Costing Us Billions
In this episode, we explored the transformative work King's Trust Canada is pursuing to improve youth employment outcomes with the organization’s CEO Farah Mohammed. Our conversation traced the Trust's remarkable ~50-year evolution - including the recent transitions as Prince Charles III became…
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The Fearless Approach to Scaling Revenue Operations | Kyle Norton
Companies need to focus on more understanding their customers - a great way to achieve this understanding is for sales and customer support to be integrated functions. Kyle Norton joined us for this episode of the StartWell Podcast to explain his perspective on the best way to develop revenue...
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Defeat Self-Doubt: The Power of Mentorship in Leadership Development | Mac Gebara
70% of people in Canada don't feel like they have the skills to be successful at their job. That number is massive - and is one of the motivating factors behind Mac Gebara's work with Emma-Jean Pride at Atrium; a boutique consultancy focused on developing leaders at fast-growing companies....
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The future of coding jobs and tech education | Jeremy Shaki from Lighthouse Labs
There are few people in Canada more knowledgeable about employment in Canada's tech sector than Lighthouse Labs' co-founder and CEO Jeremy Shaki. Jeremy joined us for this episode of the StartWell podcast to recap changes in tech since the pandemic - how education has shifted online and how...
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On Challenger Brands – with Rahul Raj
For this episode of the StartWell Podcast, 5andVine founder Rahul Raj and Qasim Virjee (CEO, StartWell) engage in a thought-provoking conversation about challenging traditional views of capitalism, emphasizing the importance of caring deeply about how one wins and balancing profit with ethical...
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Is Posting On LinkedIn Worth It? With Mark Evans
Mark Evans is a Fractional CMO and advisor to scale startups. He's previously been a news reporter and launched his career as a consultant since 2008. For any online marketer, this episode will definitely be insightful and fun! *For the full video version of the interview, check out the StartWell...
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Advertising means aligning creativity with business goals – Jean George
For over 15 years Jean has worked on Strategy and Marketing - at agencies (incl BBDO, Cheil, Taxi, VML and most recently at The Hive) and for startups. In this episode of the StartWell Podcast we hear Jean's career history (which began in fashion) and perspectives informed by her work driving...
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Why the brands who stand out win – a conversation with Saul Colt
In the post-pandemic era, marketing faces challenges such as declining efficacy and escalating costs. Brands must take calculated risks and create spectacles to capture attention. Differentiation and establishing an identity are crucial, as is prioritizing customer needs. For this episode of the...
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Dan Park – CEO of Clutch
Dan Park has had a colourful career so far - 20 years ago he was at McGill with Qasim, StartWell's founder/CEO, and since then has worked in investment banking and venture capital before taking the helm at Uber to define their UberEats business across Canada. Through his experience at Uber, Dan...
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Roy Pereira – Technologist, Startup Founder & Investor
Roy Pereira's history in tech started in the 1990s - he saw the first boom-bust cycle and has since founded and exited a few startups. For this, the 59th episode of the StartWell (https://startwell.co/) Podcast, Roy shares his experiences and perspectives as a startup founder, tech innovator,...
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Roundtable on Cannabis in Ontario
At this roundtable we feature the perspectives of three guests who work within the Canadian cannabis industry - including a grower and two gentlemen who have previously owned a production/processing facility and now help new brands enter the market working with Wellcann - the only cannabis gum...
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Cato Pastoll – Canadian fintech bank founder
Cato Pastoll is the co-founder and CEO of a Toronto based fintech startup called Loop. Loop bills itself as Canada's #1 bank for entrepreneurs - with a cross border banking platform that includes corporate cards, payments, FX, capital and more in multiple currencies. Founded about a decade ago as...
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Andrew Ingham – Beer/wine buyer turned entrepreneur
Andrew Ingham has had an interesting career - he started working in his youth in plumbing and then spent years building markets for beer companies before becoming an alcohol buyer for large grocery chains and hospitality companies around the world. Recently, his conscience weighed on him and he...
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Jasmine Daya – Personal injury lawyer and entrepreneur
Jasmine Daya developed a successful injury law practice in downtown Toronto leading up to the pandemic - in the down-time when courts were closed and business was slow, her entrepreneurial spirit saw opportunity in hospitality. Today, Jasmine still practices the law but has reduced her hours on...
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Nick DenBoer aka Smearballs on his creative journey
Nick DenBoer is a film and music video director based in Toronto who has worked with a wide array of high profile clients - including ad agencies like Wieden+Kennedy, media personalities like Conan O'Brien and artists like deadmau5, The Neptunes and even Tommy Lee. His creative style remixes...
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Alan Smithson – Co-Founder, MetaVRse
Alan Smithson co-invented the world’s first touchscreen DJ system called 'Emulator' - an award winning piece of performance kit used by some of the top DJs on the global dance music circuit. In a twist of fate, the company was taken from him the night his pitch on Dragon's Den for it aired. Since...
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Lisa Mattam – Founder, Sahajan
For the 51st episode of StartWell's Podcast, we sat down with Lisa Mattam - the Toronto based founder of Sahajan. This unique clean skincare company develops Ayurveda based products with the rigor of scientific testing to ensure best in class performance from plant based ingredients. Inspired…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Conversations with our members, partners and associates - recorded on campus in downtown Toronto.
HOSTED BY
StartWell
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The StartWell Podcast have?
The StartWell Podcast currently has 92 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The StartWell Podcast about?
Conversations with our members, partners and associates - recorded on campus in downtown Toronto.
How often does The StartWell Podcast release new episodes?
The StartWell Podcast has 92 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The StartWell Podcast?
You can listen to The StartWell Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The StartWell Podcast?
The StartWell Podcast is created and hosted by StartWell.
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